


Nicotine

by MyBelovedMavin



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Illnesses, M/M, Mavin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-28
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-02-15 04:10:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2215314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyBelovedMavin/pseuds/MyBelovedMavin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael was never very fond of newcomers, or actually, people in general. This British guy, however, never ceased to interest him. Sexy accent, talks in riddles and walks away without warning. Michael just has to figure out the indifferent mystery that is Gavin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Never having been a morning person, Michael practically dragged himself to class. Fortunately, most of his fellow students weren’t a big fan of Monday mornings either, so no one bothered him when he dropped into his seat and waited ‘till class would start. Literature was one of the few classes his friends didn’t share with him, but Mrs. Richards was an enthusiastic teacher and made the subject relatively enjoyable. Usually she would immediately start rambling about the book they were currently reading, but today, things went a little differently.

“Class, today a new student will be joining us. He moved here only recently, so please make him feel at home.” Mrs. Richards said and placed her hand on the shoulder of a boy with ridiculously messy hair.

“Everyone, this is Gavin. Gavin, would you please take that empty seat over there?”

And of course she had to point to the empty seat next to Michael. Michael, already grumpy about having to show up this early on a Monday, wasn’t amused, but decided to introduce himself anyway.

“Hey Gavin, I’m Michael. I suppose I should welcome you to our school or something, but I don’t really see the point in that.” Michael said with a grin, hoping his little introduction would make Gavin feel more comfortable sitting next to him.

“I suppose so, yeah. I’m Gavin, as you may or may not have heard.” Gavin’s tone was indifferent and he had a thick British accent. When he sat down he pulled his book out of his bag and crossed his arms.

The disinterested answer caught Michael by surprise, but it’s still early, so who blames him?

Throughout the rest of the period Gavin and Michael didn’t share a single word, but simply watched Mrs. Richards as she explains why ‘1984’ is such an amazingly interesting book. The whole class appeared to be satisfied with just watching and listening, because no one uttered a single word until the bell rang.

“Don’t forget to choose a partner for the upcoming project everyone! I want everyone to send me an email that states the name of the team members and the book of choice by Friday.”

Damn. Michael had completely forgot about that stupid project. Everyone seemed to have found someone to work with already, so was there much of a choice left?

“Gavin, would you like to work together on that project?” Michael asked as he gathered his things.

“Yeah, sure.” It didn’t sound wholeheartedly, but the tiniest of smiles lit up Gavin’s face when he answered. But he quickly looked away and the neutral look on his face returned.

“Well, do you want to go to the library to choose a book then?” Michael asked as they walked out of the classroom.

“Alright, but I’m not quite sure where the library is or what this whole project is even about.”

Michael had to laugh at the matter-of-factly way he said it. “I’ll show you where the library is and I can also tell you what we’re supposed to be doing for this project.”

Gavin grinned a little and followed Michael to the library. “So, we need to choose a book and, knowing Mrs. Richards, it would be best to pick one that’s not been used a thousand times before. The idea is that we will write an essay based on a few given questions and questions we come up with ourselves. Of course we also have to explain why we chose the book and whether others should read it or not and why.”

“I don’t want to be rude or anything, but that doesn’t sound very original.” Gavin pointed out as he stumbled into the library. Michael raised an eyebrow, but continued the conversation.

“I guess not, but at least it won’t be too difficult and not very time consuming either. Do you read a lot?” Michael asked, hoping Gavin would say yes and come up with a proper book they could use, because the comics Michael likes to read aren’t going to cut it.

“As a matter of fact, I do. I also have a particular book in mind already. If you’re okay with that of course.”

“Sure, what’s it called?” He didn’t want to sound too eager, because he didn’t want Gavin to feel like he was just using him for this ordeal of a project. 

“It’s a rather unknown book, so it meets your first and only requirement. It’s called ‘One Summer’, by David Baldacci. Have you read it?” For the first time Michael notices a hint of emotion in his voice.

“To be honest, I’ve never even heard of it before.” Michael looked at him while he answered and saw his face fall and disappointment spread across his face.

“I didn’t really expect you to know it. No one I know has read it. Which, and you have to trust me on this, is a shame.” Gavin said as he walked between the shelves in search for the book.

“You sure sound passionate about this book. Why this one?”

Gavin pondered the question for a moment before he answered. “It’s honest and real. That’s what I like about it.”

Michael wasn’t fully satisfied with this answer and wanted to ask for a more detailed explanation, but decided against it. He wouldn’t push him, it was only his first day at this school.

“Here it is.” Gavin said as he handed the book over. It didn’t look very interesting and the cover was kind of dull, but Michael took it anyway and put it in his backpack.

 

* * *

 

Classes came and went and soon it was time for lunch. Michael gathered his food and went to join his friends at their usual table. His best friend Ray was stuffing his face while Barbara complained to Lindsay, Kerry, Miles and Chris about the A- she received this morning.

“Michael!” He jumped when he heard his name and Barbara moved her attention to him. “Can you explain to me what on earth is wrong with my paper?”

“I don’t fucking know, Barb, and I don’t feel like figuring it out either.”

“She’s been complaining the entire morning,” Ray told Michael, “Be a good friend and kill me now.”

Michael laughed at that and plunged into his food as well.

“Have any of you met that new guy yet?” Miles asked, completely cutting of Barbara’s rant.

“Are you talking about the British dude? Because I’ve met him, yes.” Michael answered with his mouth still full.

“He seems a bit strange, don’t you think? He doesn’t seem to care about anything and doesn’t say much either.” Lindsay joined in.

“I’m going to do that literature project with him, he seemed like an okay guy.” Absent-mindedly Michael scanned the cafeteria for a sign of Gavin, but couldn’t find him anywhere.

“I haven’t met him yet, is he here? I’m curious.” Barbara said and started to search among the students in the cafeteria for a face she didn’t even know. 

“I don’t see him anywhere, but perhaps you have class with him this afternoon. He’s in our year after all.” Michael shrugged and turned to Ray to talk about last night’s events in GTA V.

 

* * *

 

Michael’s last class that day was history, a class he luckily shared with Ray and Barbara, because he’d probably fall asleep every single lesson without them around to entertain him.

Ray dropped into his usual seat next to him when he noticed Gavin enter the classroom.

“Is that the new dude you guys were talking about?” Ray questioned.

“Yes, that’s him. Should I call him over and ask him if he wants to sit next to us or something?”

“I think you should,” Ray nodded, “He seems kind of lost.”

Michael watched as Gavin scanned the room for a place to sit. Since he had to do an entire project with him, it might be smart to befriend him a little, so he decided to call him over.

“Hey Gavin, you can sit next to Ray if you want to?” And he pointed to the empty seat next to Ray.

Gavin smiled and walked towards them. “Greetings, Ray, the name’s Gavin.” He said and extended his hand.

“Hey man, nice accent and it’s nice to meet you.”

Ray’s comment made Gavin raise an eyebrow, but he sat down anyway.

Mr. Simpson was never one to waste time and started to ask questions without hesitation.

“Which event lead to World War I?” Mr. Simpson paced back and forth while he waited for an answer, but no one seemed willing to speak up.

“The assassination of Franz Ferdinand.” The entire classroom turned around to find the source of the voice that provided Mr. Simpson with an answer. Michael was one of them and quickly figured out it was Gavin who had spoken. He looked at Gavin, who looked very unhappy to be in the room.

“So, it’s your first day Mr. Free and you already feel like you don’t have to raise your hand?”

“Well, not to be rude, but it wasn’t like anyone else wanted to answer.” Gavin shrugged and the class was taken aback. Mr. Simpson was a grumpy old man and a very strict teacher.

“And acting smart as well? I don’t tolerate this kind of behavior in my classroom, Mr. Free.” Mr. Simpson furrowed his brow and stared intently at Gavin. Gavin merely rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“Mr. Free. If you are unable to treat me with the appropriate amount of respect and don’t apologize this instant, you may take your leave.” Mr. Simpson was getting angry and the whole class held their collective breath.

“Excuse me sir, but what am I supposed to be apologizing for?” The question itself was quite rude, but Gavin sounded completely honest when he asked it and looked curious to know the answer.

“I will tell you why just because it’s your first day, but this is your last chance. Apologize for your rude and disrespectful behavior or leave.”

Michael and the rest of the class watched in awe as Gavin put his textbook in his backpack and left the classroom without a word.

 

* * *

 

Apparently someone had called Gavin’s father, because when he put his books back in his locker, Michael noticed Gavin walking the halls with an older, tattooed man.

“Gavin, it’s your first day. When they called me I thought something bad had happened to you!” Gavin’s dad yelled and threw his hands up in the air.

“I couldn’t help myself, Geoffrey, he was acting like he owned the place and I felt like he was abusing his power.” Gavin still had that neutral expression on his face and didn’t seem at all upset his dad was angry with him.

“Do you seriously have a problem with authority or did you feel like you had to prove yourself to your classmates?”

“Geoff, like I’ve said before, he demanded respect and respect is something that has to be earned and not given carelessly.” Gavin maintained his indifferent posture until he noticed Michael looking at him and Geoff.

“Hey,” Gavin said to Michael when he saw him, ”Allow me to introduce you, this is Geoff.” Gavin pulled the older man with him and Michael shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Free, I’m Michael.”

“The name’s actually Ramsey, but you can just call me Geoff,” Geoff smiled pleasantly at him. “I take it you didn’t offend everyone you met today?” Geoff asked and turned to face Gavin again.

“Of course not, Geoff, I’m a lovely little boy. Actually, we are going to work on a literature project together.”

“Really? That’s great! Michael, why don’t you come over for a nice chat?” Geoff asked, but Michael didn’t get a chance to answer, as Gavin answered for him.

“Nah, that’s okay Geoff. He’s probably busy and the first deadline is not ‘till Friday. Bye!” And with that Gavin pushed Geoff out of the school, leaving a confused Michael behind.

 

* * *

 

The entire way home Michael thought about how weird Gavin had reacted. In the few hours Michael had known him, Gavin seemed incredibly relaxed, or actually, indifferent. So indifferent he wondered if he’s oblivious to most things that happen around him. Even when he smiled or grinned he barely showed any sign of emotion, but Michael was pretty damn sure he saw some sort of panic in his eyes when Geoff had invited him to come over.

When he got home he decided to start reading the book Gavin had picked out right away. Perhaps that would tell him a bit more about Gavin.

At first Michael didn’t understand why Gavin had called the book ‘real’ and ‘honest’, but barely 30 pages in he started to understand. He started to understand what Gavin meant with that, but he still couldn’t figure out Gavin.

 

* * *

 

The remainder of the week Gavin joined the others at lunch every day and became pretty close to the rest of them. Michael noticed he was pretty smart, although he never really spoke up. With the exception of Mr. Simpson’s class. Michael felt torn though. On one hand he was happy for Gavin that he had made some friends, but on the other hand he felt jealous. Gavin spent a lot of his time helping their friends out with homework and only worked with Michael on their literature project.

“Barbara, you absolute donut.” Gavin chuckled.

“What? I told you I suck at memorizing dates!” The others laughed while Barbara flipped the pages of her history book in anger.

“Look, it’s okay if you don’t know the exact month or day, but you were off almost two entire centuries,” Gavin grew serious again, “Study some more, because this isn’t very useful.”

Barbara stomped off and Gavin turned to face Michael.

“Shall we work on our project some more? We’re free next period anyway.”

Michael nodded, “Yeah, sure thing Gav. Alright then, we’re off. Lindsay, good luck with driving Barbara home.”

Gavin let out a small laugh and bumped into Michael, “Watch it, you idiot.”

“Sorry, no need to get all angry, mad curls.” Gavin said.

Michael stopped walking to look at Gavin, “Mad curls? What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“Jeez, calm down. It’s just that it takes me a while to remember names sometimes, so the first thing that pops into my head is mad curls.” The taller boy shrugged.

“Seriously? The first thing you come up with is mad curls?”

“Obviously, yeah. What are the first two things people notice about you? That you always look like you could strangle someone, but have cute ginger-y curls to go with it.” Gavin winked at him as he said that.

“Just keep moving, you asshole.” Michael quickly looked away, hoping Gavin wouldn’t see him blushing.

 

* * *

 

The next morning Michael saw Gavin reading a book on the steps in front of the school. Kids laughed at him and called him names, but he didn’t seem to notice. Or maybe he noticed, but just didn’t care.

“Hey Gavin,” Michael felt kind of sorry for him sitting there all by himself, “What are you reading?”

“Good morrow,” Gavin said while he kept reading, “I’m assuming you can see the book I’m holding, so I’m not going to state the obvious.”

What the hell? But then he remembered he was talking to Gavin and that he always does stupid things like that. ‘How could I forget?’ Michael sighed to himself.

“Fine,” And as he said that he snatched the book out of Gavin’s hands, “’The Time Keeper’. Never heard of it. So, why are you reading?”

“Why do you think people read at all?” Gavin questioned.

“Just answer the goddamn question Gavin.”

“No, that would be too easy. I want you to think this through.” And with that Gavin stood up, took his book back and walked into the school, Michael hot on his tail.

“Why do you always fucking do that?”

Gavin turned, a puzzled look on his face, “Do what?”

“Just walk away at random.” Michael grumbled.

“When I do you can follow me if you want to, so it’s not like I’m trying to escape. I just don’t like being stuck in one place. Besides, it shows me how much you value the conversation.” Gavin grinned.

“Are you satisfied with the amount of value I give it?”

“Hmm,” Gavin scratched his chin while he thought and Michael wanted to punch him for it, it made him look oddly attractive, “I think the answer would be a sufficient amount.”

“Why don’t you give me your phone number, then I won’t have to chase you anymore, but still show I care.”

“Why do you want my phone number?” Gavin looked hesitant.

“Because I like talking with you, but keep losing your skinny ass in the hallways.”

Gavin stopped walking and was lost in thought. 

“Come on, dude. It’s just a phone number, not your firstborn child.” Michael said as he rolled his eyes.   

“Alright then, under one condition.” 

“That being?”

“No begging for pictures of this skinny ass.”

Michael chuckled and then agreed.

 

* * *

 

The next time Michael saw him was during literature class. Not a lot of questions we’re asked, they mostly worked in silence and waited for class to be over. When the bell rang Gavin left without saying a single word.

“Asshole, wait up!” Gavin turned and saw Michael walking up to him. “Why do you always act so mysteriously? Every time I look away you just disappear without a single heads up.” 

Gavin’s lips formed a sly grin before he answered. “Why are you always agitated?”

Michael sighed, “Maybe it’s just who I am.” 

“Then perhaps it’s just who I am too.” And then he slipped around the corner.

And mysterious he was, for the next few days Michael didn’t see him. Actually, no one saw him; he didn’t attend a single class.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael was never very fond of newcomers, or actually, people in general. This British guy, however, never ceased to interest him. Sexy accent, talks in riddles and walks away without warning. Michael just has to figure out the indifferent mystery that is Gavin.

“Have you guys seen Gavin lately?” Barbara asked during lunch, “He said he’d help me with history, but I haven’t seen him in any of the classes we share.”

Michael was glad she asked the question, he wanted to know as well, but didn’t want to ask. He didn’t want his friends to think he cared, although inside he was incredibly worried. Gavin looked fine and albeit he was mysterious, he was always ready to help his newfound friends and kept his promises. 

Michael looked around the table and his face fell as he saw that every single one of his friends shook their head. 

They were quiet for a bit and Kerry was the one to break the silence, “I was supposed to do an experiment with him for science last Friday and he never showed up.” 

There had to be something important going on then, Gavin would never miss a chance to blow something up. 

Absent-mindedly Michael checked his phone. He never told the others Gavin hadn’t replied to any of his texts, but then again, he never even told them he had his number. The reluctant look on Gavin’s face when he gave it to him made him decide to keep that a secret. Not just because Gavin seemed uncomfortable with it, but also because he enjoyed being the only one to have his number. He secretly liked it, because it made him feel special.

What he didn’t like, however, was not being able to reach Gavin. The teachers hadn’t said anything about his absence, so it probably wasn’t that serious, but Michael couldn’t keep his mind off him.

“Ray,” Michael whispered during a particularly boring history lesson, “Do you think Gavin’s okay?”

“Dude, don’t worry about it. He’s probably just sick.”Ray answered lazily.

“But he seemed fine the day before his absence.” 

Michael thought if he could think of any changes in Gavin’s behavior. He thought long and hard and came to a single conclusion. It was fucking impossible to figure him out. Of course, he grinned, smiled or laughed every once in a while, but other than that his expression was always the same. Neutral to the point of indifference. Michael had yelled at him before and called him names every so often, but the British idiot never so much as frowned when he did that.

“Earth for Michael. Dude!” Michael shook the thought from his mind as he watched Ray wave a hand in front of his face.

“Wh-, what?” Michael blurted out.

“I said, if it’s really bothering you that much, go on a quest to his house and see for yourself.”

“I don’t even know where he lives.” And he ran a hand through his curls. His mad curls, he thought. Jesus, that British boy was taking over his life and he didn’t even know where the idiot lived.

“Ask the tutor, tell him you need to speak to Gavin about a few assignments and homework or something. Teachers love that shit.”

Ray’s plan was actually good for once, so Michael went to his tutor’s office for a chat. And sure enough, he walked out with a piece of paper with Gavin’s address on it. He smiled a little to himself and quickly walked to his next class. 

 

* * *

 

That next class happened to be history with Mr. Simpson. History with Gavin was fun, but without him it was incredibly dull. Ray noticed it too.

“Wow. I might fall asleep without Gavin around to start a ruckus.” Well, at least Michael wasn’t the only one to miss Gavin.

“I know and without him there’s no one to answer Simpson’s stupid questions either, so we’re going to be fucked.” Michael put his head in his hands and tried to concentrate. Which was pretty hard, considering he could see Ray yawn every other second.

Unfortunately, Barbara didn’t offer him any kind of distraction either, because she was actually paying attention for once. And this was also due to the fact that Gavin wasn’t there to help her out.

 

* * *

 

Ray and Barbara followed Michael out of the school at the end of the day, which Michael was pretty happy with, because he wasn’t sure about just showing up at Gavin’s front door.

“Dude, it’s not weird. It’s not like you’ll be there sitting at the dinner table out of the blue. You just ring the doorbell and wait to be invited in.” Ray assured Michael.

“If you’re really not sure about this,” Barbara joined in, “we can go with you! You know, as mental support.”

“No thanks, with you around the whole block would be standing outside. So much for being subtle about it.” Michael joked. Although it did have a sense of truth in it.

“That’s probably a good call. In that case, good luck and tell me how everything worked out!” Ray said as he dragged Barbara along with him.

“Don’t forget to ask him when he’s going to help me with history!” Barbara yelled, already halfway across the parking lot.

Michael waved at them as he started to make his way to Gavin’s house. It wasn’t too far away. Actually, Gav’s house was closer to school than his own. When he ended up in the right street, he started to get nervous again. What if Gavin asked how he got his address? Gavin never told him and he did lie to a tutor. On top of that, Geoff seemed nice when he met him, but he also looked like he could tear him in half, what if he would be mad and really creeped out?

He nearly started to walk home twice, but he simply couldn’t do that. He had to know what Gavin was up to and not knowing made him really frustrated. He couldn’t take his mind off of it. Besides, Gavin taught him that curiosity never killed the cat, because satisfaction brought it back. He wouldn’t outstay his welcome.

 

* * *

 

Michael decided to take a deep breath and just go with the homework story if he had to. Nearly too nervous to stand, he rang the bell and waited.

“Hey Michael!” Geoff greeted him happily and Michael was finally able to exhale again. “What brings you to the Ramsey residence on this sunny afternoon?” 

“Uhhh…” Michael was so surprised by Geoff’s attitude that he completely forgot what he was trying to do.

Before Geoff had time to make fun of Michael’s loss for words, a woman’s voice rang out from somewhere in the house.

“Geoff, are you scaring the neighborhood kids again?”

“Nope, I think I somehow intimidated Gavin’s new friend!” And he burst into laughter. 

“Gavin’s new friend?” The woman asked and joined Geoff in the doorway. “Ooh, you mean Michael! Hi, Michael, I’m Griffon, Geoff’s wife.”

Michael awkwardly shook her hand, still not knowing what to think of the entire situation.

“Nice to meet you, but, uh, how do you know who I am?” Michael asked, curious to know if Gavin had told them about him.

“Well, of course I had to bully Gavin for making a little friend and not telling me, so I told Griffon all about you! No offense, just to annoy Gavin.” And he smiled such a mischievous smile, Michael couldn’t help but laugh.

“So, I assume you’re looking for Gavin?” Griffon finally asked. 

“Yeah, I uhh, I came to bring him his homework and see what’s going on.” Alright, so he wasn’t telling the entire truth, but it was semi true. That’s worth something, right?

“Wait, he didn’t tell you he’s sick?” Geoff wondered.

“Is he? Because he didn’t tell any of us and he didn’t respond to any of my texts either.”

Geoff was caught a little off guard, so Griffon took over. “I think you should go up and talk to him. And give him his homework, of course.” She stepped aside and pulled her husband with her.

Michael looked around as he stepped inside. The house looked nice, not too big, but nice. He also noticed a picture of a little girl on the wall. He considered asking about her, but decided against it. Gavin was more important right now. 

“He’s upstairs,” Griffon told him, “his room is the last one on the left.”

Michael nodded and headed up the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little chapter to show I'm pretty dedicated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael was never very fond of newcomers, or actually, people in general. This British guy, however, never ceased to interest him. Sexy accent, talks in riddles and walks away without warning. Michael just has to figure out the indifferent mystery that is Gavin.

“Geoff, if you’re here to give me food, let me tell you again, I’m not hungry.” Gavin yelled weakly through the door when Michael reached the end of the hallway.

Suddenly, Michael wasn’t so sure anymore. He sounded quite sick and didn’t seem to want any company either. On the other hand, Griffon did say he should go up to talk to him and it would be weird to just leave now. 

Alright, so he decided that he would go talk to him. Next question is, how is he going to announce his presence? Knock on the door, call out for him, walk in?

Knocking seemed like the least intrusive option, so Michael went with that one.

“Since when do you knock, Geoff?” Gavin grunted.

Michael wasn’t sure what to do next, luckily, Gavin made the decision for him.

“Who is it?”

“Uhh, it’s me. Michael.”

Nothing but silence came from the other side of the door.

“Gav, can I come in?” Michael tried. 

“If that’s what you want to.” 

Well, at least that sounded like the Gavin Michael knows. When he opened the door his eyes had to adjust to the darkness.

“What are you doing here?” Gavin sat up and eyed Michael nervously. 

Michael made himself at home and sat down on the office chair to face Gavin. “I actually stopped by to give you your homework and ask what the fuck is going on with you.”

“What is going on with me is my business.” The Brit answered dryly.

“As soon as you start worrying your friends you’re making it our damn business too.”

Gavin crossed his arms before responding. “If I wanted you guys to know, I would’ve told you.”

Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was that asshole being serious right now? Most people would be happy to know they had friends that cared about their well-being, Gavin seemed annoyed.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on or what?” Michael sighed and tried not to burst into anger with all his might.

“Well, I’m sick.”

Michael pinched his nose. “Yeah, I get that, but what kind of sick.”

“The kind of sick nothing can be done about and you just have to wait and hope for it to get better.”

“Thanks a lot, Gav. That really narrows it down. What the hell is so serious that you can’t go to school?”

Gavin noticed Michael was getting extremely frustrated. Perhaps he shouldn’t be like this towards him. He did come over to see how he’s doing and bring him his stuff. Also, he’s a friend and Gavin simply couldn’t let his friend down.

“It’s nothing too bad. I was feeling a little weak and got dizzy every so often. Maybe I’m just tired, but I get this a lot, so it’s nothing to be worried about.”

“Wait, you get this more often?” Damn. He should’ve left out that last part.

“Yeah, it’s nothing, I probably shouldn’t stay up late to watch movies every single school night.” He laughed nervously and he hoped Michael wouldn’t pick up on that.

“Dude, I get it, I do that all the time! Sometimes you’re just watching a really good series and you need to watch the whole thing.” Michael smiled.

And that smile brightened up Gavin’s entire day, because he looked goddamn cute when he did that. Gavin decided to keep on this topic to avoid going back to the sickness thing.

“That, or you’re watching silly videos and you can’t find a proper time to stop or none of the videos are worthy of being the last one you watch that day.”

“’Worthy of being the last one you watch’? God, you’re an idiot.” Michael chuckled and Gavin just smirked at him.

“So, how’s everyone doing?” Gavin finally dared to ask. Honestly, he was dying to know how his friends were getting along.

Right when Michael opened his mouth to answer, Geoff barged in with two mugs and two pieces of pie. 

“Guess who bought Jamie Oliver’s new book the other day!” Geoff yelled cheerily as he placed the tray on the desk and opened the curtains, temporarily blinding both Gavin and Michael in the process.

“Jesus, Geoff, what’s going on with you?” Michael questioned, shielding his eyes.

“Taste that little piece of heaven and you know why.” Geoff grinned at Michael and he smiled back.

“At least you’re not arrogant, Geoff.”

“I know, I’m so fun to be around.” He was nearly out of the room when he turned to Gavin. “Gav, don’t forget to take y-“

“My phone offline when I’m not using it, I know Geoffrey.” Gavin quickly finished his sentence for him.

Michael raised an eyebrow, but decided to let it slide and focused his attention on the pie.

Geoff left with a sigh and Gavin continued their conversation.

“So, you were trying to say?”

“Oh, yeah, well,” Michael answered while chewing, “Barbara is trying to pay attention in history, Kerry was kind of upset you didn’t help him with the science thing,” A small pause as Michael gulped, God, Geoff knew how to make pie, “Ray keeps dozing off in pretty much every class, Miles is still trying to convince everyone he’s a ladies man, Chris is still shy as fuck and Lindsay won’t stop showing me videos of cats. So, yeah, same old, same old.” 

Gavin enjoyed watching him eat and talk, but he couldn’t help but feel really guilty towards Barbara and Kerry.

“Are they mad at me?”

“Who?”

“Barb and Kerry?”

“I don’t think so, Barb is probably just annoyed about not being able to get straight A’s in history and Kerry just wanted to set something on fire, I think.” Michael looked up from his pie when Gavin kept quiet. He just stared at his plate.

“Gav, it’s okay. Just tell them you’ve been sick, they’ll understand.” Michael tried to reassure him, but it didn’t have much of an effect, Gavin still sounded sad when he voiced his concern.

“I’ve only known them for a while and I already let them down.”

“Just tell them you were sick and that you’re sorry, it’ll be fine. So, when will you be back?”

Gavin seemed to hesitate before he answered, “I think I’ll be back tomorrow. We really need to work on that literature project. Have you finished the book yet?”

“Uhh…” Michael scratched his head awkwardly. He had forgotten about the book entirely. He had been busy with other classes and he also worried about Gavin too much to concentrate. On top of it all, his two brothers didn’t seem to allow him a moment of peace and quiet and they’d been getting on his nerves a lot.

“You haven’t.” The Brit stated.

Michael felt bad and rightly so. He had noticed that the book meant a great deal to Gavin and he hadn’t even picked it up since the last time he closed it. He was an asshole.

“It’s okay, I can continue the project for now. I’ve read it loads of times.” Gavin shrugged as if it was nothing, but Michael heard the disappointment in his voice.

The silence after that dragged on for a while, so Michael made up an excuse to leave.

“It’s getting kind of late, so I should probably head back home.” And with that he stood up.

Gavin watched him pack his stuff and softly said, “Thank you for stopping by.”

Michael smiled at him and took his leave.

 

* * *

 

Although he still felt bad about leaving his friends hanging, Gavin couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy inside when crawled into bed that evening. Mad curls actually came to his house to see if he was fine. No one had ever done such a thing for him. And with the smiling face of Michael clearly in his mind he fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

Michael, on the other hand, had a hard time falling asleep. He felt awful about Gavin. Not just because he looked like shit, but also because he sounded truly hurt when Michael told him he hadn’t read the book. Was Gav really disappointed because of the book though? Maybe something else was going on as well. When Michael finally allowed the various theories in his mind to wash over him, he was able to settle down and get some rest.

 

* * *

 

The next day Michael decided to wait for Gavin in front of the school, because they had literature together. Just when he was about to go in, he noticed a very messy haircut emerge from a car.

“You actually kept your promise this time!” Michael said when Gavin walked up to him.

“One, I never promised I’d be here today. Two, I usually keep my promises, I truly do.”

“Sure you do, let’s go, because we’re about to be late.” Michael grabbed Gavin by his arm and dragged him inside, Gavin nearly having to run to prevent himself from falling.

When they finally sat down in class Michael asked, “Why were you so late anyway?”

“I had some sort of argument with Geoff this morning.” Gavin shrugged.

“What do you mean? Did you guys fight or something?”

“Nah, just a minor misunderstanding.”

Michael was about to continue his questioning, but it had to wait ‘till later, because Mrs. Richards, happy as ever, started to recite poems out of the blue.

 

* * *

 

“Gavin!” Barbara screamed as soon as she spotted the British guy from halfway across the cafeteria. 

“Where have you been?!” Gavin quickly sat down, informing her he had been sick and hoping she would stop yelling.

“We’ve also been sick.” Kerry said.

“No you weren’t, you’ve been here every single day so far!” Barbara threw her arms up.

“He’s right you know. We’ve been sick of your whining for days on end.” Lindsay said and Kerry gave her a high five, while Chris nearly fell off his seat laughing.

“Where are Michael, Ray and Miles?” The Brit asked.

Kerry was the first to answer, “Miles is probably chatting up some girl,”

“Ray’s out ‘sick’ today, because Destiny came out.” Lindsay chimed in.

“And Michael is looking for trouble with some seniors over there.” Kerry finished.

They all turned around to look at Michael, who was clearly having some issues with two guys behind him in line.

“Fuck.” Lindsay said dryly and stood up. The others stood up to follow her, but Gavin grabbed Barbara by her arm to hold her back.

“What the bloody hell is going on?”

“Michael has a thing for picking fights with guys bigger than him. Which is pretty much every guy in school, but still.”

“Are they seriously going to fight?” Gavin eyed Barbara nervously while he waited for he answer.

“Well, it’s happened before, wouldn’t surprise me if they did.”

Turns out she wasn’t far off, because as soon as they reached the face-off, one of the seniors stepped up to push Michael. A circle was formed quickly and the students were nearly placing bets.

“Think you’re better than me just because you’re older, huh? Fuckface.” Michael clenched his fists.

“That, and because you are tiny and not very intimidating.” The other one laughed.

Lindsay tried her best to calm the short, red-headed boy down, “Come on Michael, they’re not worth it.” She tried to pull him aside and Michael let her, until…

“What? You scared, little guy?”

Knowing what was going to happen, Lindsay let Michael go and ran off to find Miles.

Michael turned around and charged at the guy who had pushed him. He grabbed him by the shoulders and used his weight to pull him to the floor. The second guy, however, wasn’t up for a fair fight and punched Michael off of his friend.

Gavin couldn’t believe his eyes. He knew Michael could get mad at times, but he never thought he would be capable of fighting. A face full of freckles, cheeks with dimples when he smiled, curly red hair on his head, no, Michael looked like a sweet puppy with a bad temper. 

Fortunately, Miles finally arrived and jumped in without question. Meanwhile Michael held a hand to his face and Gavin could see it was swollen a bit already. Just when everyone thought Miles was going to get a fist in the face as well, Kerry and Chris pulled him away and dragged both Miles and Michael out of the cafeteria. Gavin, Lindsay and Barbara ran after them.


	4. Chapter 4

Michael was still boiling with rage when his friends forced him to sit down on the stairs.

“I’m going to kick his fucking ass.” Michael hissed, keeping his swollen face covered.

“You’re an idiot Michael, seriously,” Lindsay scolded him, “those guys were way bigger than you and did you notice I said ‘guys’? Plural?”

Michael just grunted in reply and looked the other way. All his friends stood by, none of them sure of what to say or do. It was Kerry who broke the silence at last.

“Are you okay?” He asked softly. He knew it was a dumb question, but he had to try something.

“I’m feeling absolutely fucking great, Kerry.”

“That’s awesome!” Kerry chuckled, but it didn’t seem to cheer anyone up. As a matter of fact, Michael looked so angry he wanted to turn around and run the other way as fast as he could.

 

* * *

 

 

Fortunately for most of them, the bell rang.

“Saved by the bell once again, bye!” Barbara said quickly and walked away, dragging a bemused Lindsay along with her.

Miles scratched his head awkwardly before announcing he had class as well and had to leave. Kerry and Chris followed him quietly, leaving both Gavin and Michael behind.

Neither of them was able to find something to say, so they waited in silence for the hallways to empty and for the staring students to disappear into the classrooms and around the corners.

“I, uhm, I got you your glasses.” Gavin finally said and offered Michael his glasses.

“Thanks.” Michael replied as he took them from Gavin with his free hand. He didn’t put them on though, he held on to them and stared at the ground. Besides, he hadn’t even noticed he’d lost them. His eyes were so watery they wouldn’t have made a difference.

Meanwhile, Gavin worked up the nerve to crouch in front of him to meet his gaze.

“Let me see it.” Gavin all but ordered him and reach out a hand to grab Michael’s wrist, but Michael leaned back and out of his reach.

“Michael.” Gavin pleaded. The sad and worried look in his eyes made Michael feel bad, but that wasn’t the feeling that captivated him. He felt happy and warm.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard you say my name.” Michael smiled.

“Just show me your face.”

“Gavin, this is the first time you’ve called me by my name.”

“So?” Gavin sighed in reply.

“Why haven’t you said it before?” Michael was still smiling, Gavin noticed, but he also looked offended.

“I never had the guts to say it, now show me your face.” Gavin took advantage of Michael’s confusion and pulled the latter’s hand away from his face.

“Jesus.”

“It’s that bad, huh?”

“Well,” Gavin swallowed before continuing, “it could’ve been worse I suppose.”

“Really? The look on your face says the exact opposite.”

“Alright, it’s bloody terrible.” Gavin stood up and held out his hand, “Come on.”

Michael took his hand and allowed Gavin to pull him up and away. He had expected the British boy to take him to the nurse’s office, or at least to a restroom, but instead he was being taken outside.

 

* * *

 

“Where the hell are we going, Gav?”

“Home.”

“Who’s home?”

“Mine.”

“Are you going to tell me why or what?” Michael stopped dead in his tracks.

“Because I’m going to take care of your face for you. We both know you’re not going to do anything about it.” Gavin stated coldly.

And to be completely honest, Michael couldn’t argue with that. He really wasn’t planning on doing anything about it.

“But why are we going to your house then?”

“I can’t take you to the nurse, because she’ll ask what happened and then you’ll get detention. On top of that, we’re going to need ice or something for that swollen eye of yours.”

“If we go home now we’re going to skip a class and get detention anyway.” Not that he particularly cared, but he knew Gavin was very serious about his school record.

“We were supposed to work in the computer lab, if they start asking questions, I’ll talk us out of it.” Gavin smirked. “So, are you able to walk on your own or do you need a hand?”

“I can manage, I’m not made of glass, Gavin.” And, to show his confidence, he started to walk.

“Whatever you say, but I’m going to walk a little behind you to make sure you don’t pass out.”

 

* * *

 

They walked to Gavin’s house in silence. At first, Michael was annoyed with Gavin’s caution, although his dizzy head and blurry vision quickly made him change his mind about that. He did manage to reach the Ramsey household without any help, much to Gavin’s relief.

Gavin supported Michael up the stairs and eventually sat him down on his bed.

“I’m going to look for some ice or a cold pack, try not to lie down while I’m gone.”

Before Michael had a change to ask him why, Gavin was out of the room.

Michael can be such a hotheaded little prick, Gavin thought. The memory of Michael tackling that big senior to the ground made him smile though. That face full of freckles wasn’t scared of anything and Gavin admired him for it. Although it was still the stupidest thing he could’ve done in the situation. Ice pack in hand and smiling to himself, he went back up the stairs and into his room.

“Michael?" 

He wasn’t on the bed anymore.

“Michael?”

No reaction.

“Michael!”

He dropped the ice pack and left the room in search of Michael.  The door was closed, but he decided to check Geoff and Griffon’s room anyway. He went inside, but Michael wasn’t there either. Suddenly, he could hear a sound coming from the bathroom. He started towards the door, but stopped right in front of hit, his hand on the doorknob. He was finally able to identify the sound. It was the sound of someone retching violently. Well, not someone, but Michael. Deciding now was as good a time as ever Gavin opened the door.

“Michael?”

The shorter boy spitted into the toilet bowl before answering, “I’m fine, I really am. You don’t have to be here.”

“Am I right in assuming that you didn’t listen to what I said earlier?”

“I kind of stretched out on your bed.”

“You donut.”

Gavin snorted and shook his head before kneeling down and placing a hand on Michael’s shoulder.

“You know, not everything I say is supposed to be a riddle. This was pretty straightforward.”

“Gavin?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up.”

“I’m sorry. Now, let’s get you back on my bed and remain upright this time, okay?”

“Sure.” Michael grinned at Gavin as he held on to the Brit, together they made their way to Gavin’s room again.

Gavin furrowed his eyebrows as he checked on Michael’s eye.

“You’re worried, weren’t you?” Michael teased.

“Of course I was,” Noticing the look on Michael’s face he quickly added, “Don’t tell me I’m soft, because you were the one lying just to get my address and visit me.”

“Yeah, well, I was worried and confused, you were nowhere to be found!”

“And now it’s my turn to be worried. You’re my boy, you know.”

“Wait a second,” Michael said and swatted Gavin’s hand away. “I’m your what?”

“My boy!” Gavin repeated happily.

“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s just that, uhm, you’re my friend. My boy, you know. Are you uncomfortable with me saying that?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen you genuinely happy, so no, that’s fine.”

Gavin smiled and felt his cheeks flush,  “I think you have a mild concussion, because of the vomiting and stuff, and your eye is going to look and feel like shit tomorrow,” he said, as if that was going to cover it up.

 

* * *

 

 

Once Gavin was done inspecting Michael’s eye, he carefully placed the icepack on it.

“Do you think I’ll be able to wear my glasses tomorrow?” Michael asked, now holding the icepack. 

“Nope. I think you should consider buying a monocle.” Gavin grinned. “In all seriousness though, is there anyone home to take care of you?”

“Why do I need taking care of? It’s just swollen.”

“Like I said, you might have some sort of concussion, someone needs to check in you every now and then.”

“Uhm, my mom’s always home, so it’s fine.”

Gavin wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t want to argue with Michael either, so he let him be.

 

* * *

 

After a little while of talking and making fun of Michael’s eye and face, Geoff came home. Up ‘till then, Michael had thought that Geoff was a tough man, but that went completely out of the window.

“What the fuck happened?!” Geoff yelled when he looked at Michael.

“I, uhm, had a little incident at school today.” Michael said awkwardly.

“And with that he means he has unresolved anger management issues.” Gavin added.

“Did you two get into a fight?” Geoff asked as he rubbed his temples.

“No, just me. Gavin brought me here afterwards.”

“Well, let me look at it.”

Michael removed the icepack from his eye to show Geoff. That’s when he found out the man is actually a huge softie with daddy instincts Michael had never seen the likes of. As soon as he saw Michael’s eye he stepped back and brought his hand to his face to cover his eyes.

“Nevermind, I’ll just help by driving you home instead.” And with that he was out of the door.

Eventually, after laughing, Gavin and Michael followed him out of the room and got into the car. Soon they arrived at Michael’s house. After Gavin had assured Michael the icepack wasn’t priority, Michael stepped out and went inside.

 

* * *

 

 

While Michael spent the night sleeping with the icepack on his face and a bucket next to his bed, Gavin spent his awake and worried. He considered calling the redheaded boy, but decided against it because he didn’t want to wake Michael up if he was sleeping. At around 4 in the morning, he fell asleep, his phone still in his hand.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael was never very fond of newcomers, or actually, people in general. This British guy, however, never ceased to interest him. Sexy accent, talks in riddles and walks away without warning. Michael just has to figure out the indifferent mystery that is Gavin.

The following day Michael woke up with a violently throbbing head. He grabbed his phone from the bedside table to look at his reflection. Michael never cared about his appearance, but God, he looked like absolute shit today. His curls stuck to his forehead, he had bags under his eye, his other eye was swollen and pretty much half his face was black and blue. The worst part was that he couldn’t even see clearly, his eye was nearly shut and very watery too.

He decided a shower would have to make him look at least a little less like a reanimated corpse, so he went into the bathroom. The shower was sort of refreshing, but the hot water felt terrible on his swollen face. He quickly washed his hair and then turned off the water.

 

* * *

 

After getting dressed and drying his hair a little, Michael went back into his room, towel around his neck. He picked up his phone again and two things on the home screen made him jump. One, it was almost time for dinner already, he slept the entire fucking day! Two, Gavin (his boy?) left him an abundance of messages, each one increasingly more worried than the last. Dinner was less important than Gavin, so he decided to call him first and then go downstairs. 

“Gavin?”

“MICHAEL,” Gavin belted so loud, Michael had to take the phone away from his ear, “What’s going on? Are you okay? Where have you been? How’s your eye? Is everything alright?” 

“Yeah, hi.” Michael replied curtly and put his glasses on.

“Don’t you bloody ‘hi’ me, Michael!” He sounded genuinely mad and concerned.

“I’m sorry, Gav. I’m fine, I’ve been sleeping all day actually. Face looks like shit though and my glasses are all crooked when I put them on.”

“I called it,” And Michael could hear him smile when he said that, “So, still nauseated?”

“Nah, I’m okay. Didn’t even have to use my bucket. I’m really hungry, so if you don’t mind I’m going to check if there’s any food yet.”

“That’s fine, Michael, enjoy your meal!”

“Thanks, you too if you still have to eat!”

And with that Michael hung up. It took him a few minutes to notice he had been grinning like an idiot for quite some time now. Gavin rarely showed emotion, but when he did, he could go from one extreme to the next in a heartbeat.

 

* * *

 

Dinner was served when Michael reached the kitchen and he ate as fast as possible. His brothers kept making fun of his eye and his parents just asked how he was and went on with their usual conversation. But, actually, he was kind of grateful when they didn’t ask him too many questions. Yesterday they just let him go to his room to sleep, so he was afraid he would have to give them a detailed explanation now. He asked to be excused as soon as he was done eating and left the table.

Back in his room he looked around, unsure of what to do. He was feeling well rested, but didn’t want to do anything he had to concentrate on, because he still had a massive headache. Unfortunately, he couldn’t play any videogames or read Gavin’s book either, his swollen eye took care of that. He then decided to go out for a walk, maybe sit in the park or something. The cool and fresh air would probably feel nice and it was dark enough to ensure random people wouldn’t notice his eye and stare at him.

 

* * *

 

Once outside he headed for the park. While walking he took out his phone and absent-mindedly his fingers pulled up his text messages. All of Gavin’s texts were still unanswered and Michael felt kind of bad about it. Gavin had been sending him messages to make sure he was fine all day and he barely said three sentences to him when they had called. To make up for it, he decided to text Gavin to see if he wanted to come to the park and maybe go for a walk or just hang out. And Gavin, of course, wouldn’t say no to his boy.

 

* * *

 

Michael was already in the park when Gavin arrived. The Brit walked around for a bit, before he noticed a boy with curls sitting on a swing. With a smile on his face he walked over and sat down on the other swing.

“Hey Gav, that was pretty quick.” Michael said when he saw Gavin sit down.

“Yeah, well, wasn’t like I had something to do.” And the grin Gavin gave the other boy made Michael melt. He only just realized Gavin did everything for him and genuinely cared about him. 

“What are you smiling at you donut?”

Michael shook the thought from his mind and turned his gaze forwards again. God, did he fell hard. Well, he had other friends that made him smile, but not like this. Gavin never failed to cheer him up or at least ‘lessen Michael’s gloom and eyes of doom’ as the Brit liked to call it. It was strange to see him like that. At school he rarely ever cared about something and wasn’t as cheery and talkative as he is with Michael alone. Michael could only hope he was the reason for Gavin’s sudden change in nature every time they were together.

 

* * *

 

For a while they just sat there, swinging occasionally, but mostly making jokes and talking. It was a nice night. The slight breeze felt cool on their faces and Michael almost forgot about his swollen ‘gob’. The park was surprisingly empty, although it was getting a bit late already, but they didn’t mind. They could laugh and shout all they wanted without disturbing anyone. Everything was fun and games, until Gavin tried to teach Michael some British slang.

“You’re not saying it right, Michael!” Gavin laughed.

“I’m pretty sure I’m saying it exactly as you say it.” Michael was getting a bit frustrated. He tried to say the same sentence over and over and Gavin kept laughing at him.

“I think I know how to say it, it’s my language!”

“It’s my language too, asshole.”

“No it’s not, you speak Jersey-American and I speak English.”

“That’s the same exact fucking thing Gavin!” Michael stood up and shouted at the other boy, “I just don’t have your stupid accent and I actually pronounce the T’s in all the words I say!” 

“I pronounce everything right, you pleb!”

That was the last straw. Michael closed the space between them and grabbed Gavin by the collar of his shirt and brought the Brit’s face up to his own.

“Listen, you say everything in your own fucking weird way, you made up your own entire language!”

“That puffy face isn’t very frightening, my little Michael.” Gavin squealed and laughed.

Gavin’s laughter only caused Michael to be angrier and now his entire face was red, except for the part that had been colored black and blue the day before.

“You look like a puppy that’s trying to be scary! Your curls are too cute to be intimidating!” And with that Gavin threw his head back and laughed even harder.

That’s when Michael wrestled him to the ground. He put his hands on Gavin’s wrists and pinned them down above Gavin’s head, he made sure to pin his legs down as well, to make sure Gavin wouldn’t kick him or anything.

“Am I scary now?” Michael asked with a mischievous grin and eyes that shot fire, his face only inches away from Gavin’s.

“Nope, still cute.”

Michael was about to snarl at the boy underneath him again, but he never got the chance. Immediately after he had spoken, Gavin lifted his head from its place on the ground and brought their lips together.


	6. Chapter 6

Michael couldn’t believe what was happening to him. One moment he was yelling at the boy and the next he was kissing him on the ground in the middle of the park. His thoughts were driving him crazy, what was he supposed to do now? But his heart was quick with providing an answer.

Without skipping another beat Michael deepened the kiss and pressed Gavin back so that his head was on the ground again. God, this idiot’s lips were soft.

Meanwhile Gavin’s mind kept going to his arms that were still pinned, much to his dismay. He had wanted to try this for a while now; he had just wanted to kiss Michael. Now that Michael went all for it though, he wanted more. He wanted to comb his fingers through Michael’s curls and pull him even closer. If that’s even possible at this point.

Suddenly Michael’s brain took over and he sat up, still holding Gavin’s wrists, leaving the Brit disgruntled and immobile on the ground.

“Alright, as much as I am enjoying this, what the hell Gavin?”  Michael couldn’t keep going without knowing what was up.

“Well, for a few moments there we were making out and it was all nice and hot, until you ruined it.” Gavin answered with a smirk and a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

Michael crossed his arms before answering, “Don’t tell me I’m asking a stupid question.”

Of course Gavin noticed this giant window of opportunity and swiftly grabbed Michael by his shoulders to push him over and switch their positions.

“Stop ruining the bloody moment, Michael.”

Even before the red-head could make so much as a sound, Gavin was kissing him again, his slender body weighing down on Michael and one hand brushing through the ‘mad curls’ while his other made sure to not crush the boy beneath him.

This time, Michael decided to let everything go and clear his thoughts, save for the one of Gavin. 

He tried to lean into the kiss, but that was harder than he thought with Gavin on top of him. Even with Gavin being skinny as fuck. Instead he pulled the Brit closer by wrapping his arms around the other boy’s neck. He could just feel Gavin smiling while they kissed and goddamn he liked it.

They stayed like that for a few more moments until Gavin pulled away, grinning widely at Michael. Gavin tried to sit up, but the other boy still had his arms around his neck and didn’t allow him to do so. Instead, Michael pulled him down again, planting a kiss in Gavin’s neck and hugging him tightly.

 

* * *

 

They had slowly made their way back onto the swings again, exchanging grins and glances while they did so. Michael had been enjoying this evening beforehand, but god, this made it a night he’d never forget. He thought Gavin felt the same, because he couldn’t stop smiling and his face had been flushed pretty much the entire time.

“There’s still some sand in your hair.” Gavin finally said and ran a hand through Michael’s hair to get it out.

“Not trying to ruin this evening or anything, but why did you do that?” Michael asked, looking down.

“I basically told you. You’re just so damn cute and I really like you,” At that Michael looked up to smile at the boy to his left, “I didn’t even bother to find out if you were into guys and now I realize I took a giant risk, but I’m glad I did it.”

“I’m glad you did too. So, where does this put us?”

Now it was Gavin’s turn to look away, “What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“Well, I did something completely out of line, so I think you should return the favor.” Gavin smirked.

Michael shook his head with a smile on his face before asking, “Gav, do you want to be my boyfriend or something?”

“What does ‘or something’ mean exactly?” Gavin questioned in return.

“Just answer the fucking question, Gavin!”

“I’m only trying to weigh my options here, maybe this ‘or something’ is great and-“

“Gavin!”

“Of course I want to be your boyfriend, little Michael.” Gavin smiled.

Michael smiled back, “That’s tippy top.”

 

* * *

 

Thereafter they discussed how to go from there. They both agreed to not tell any of their friends. The obvious reason being that they wouldn’t hear the end of it and the other being they didn’t want people at school to find out. They also decided on not telling Michael’s parents and the Ramseys. Michael’s parents would start a huge fuss over it and his brothers would torment him until the end of time. Geoff, on the contrary, would ask Gavin (and probably Michael too) the most embarrassing and personal questions, so he wasn’t to be trusted with their secret either. Besides, it was kind of nice to keep this secret between just the two of them.

When they finally got home, of course after sharing a goodnight kiss, they stepped into their beds to share a few texts before going to sleep. They debated whether they should play a game before going to sleep, but decided that could wait ‘till after they had slept. As if either of them would be able to lie still and keep their thoughts clear for long enough to fall asleep. That wasn’t the case, but they tried anyway.

 

* * *

 

The following day was spent doing chores around their houses and doing homework and, no surprise there, videogames.

Their game time involved a lot of screaming from Michael’s part and squealing and laughing from Gavin’s. Gavin would (try to) fuck up in every possible way, causing Michael to yell at him through his headset, which only resulted in Gavin laughing and Michael becoming even angrier.

Gavin liked it though. Michael was always nice to him, so when he got yelled at, he knew his boy didn’t really mean it. Michael on the other hand was still unable to control his rage, but it didn’t matter, as long as Gavin would laugh and tell him he was cute when he was mad.

At the end of the day, they texted for a while, sending each other stupid yet funny pictures and talking about the most random things. There was one serious topic though, going to school tomorrow. Michael would have to try his best to hide his affection for Gavin. Especially from Lindsay. She could read him like a book. A book that’s wide open, written all in caps and with size 36 letters. Fortunately, Gavin was the lord and master of indifference and, additionally, their friends hadn’t known him for that long, so they wouldn’t be able to read him that easily. They’d just tell them they hang out, which is true, and that they played videogames and did homework over the entire weekend.

Before they both went to sleep, Gavin told Michael one last time that he looked cute, even with his swollen eye and bruised face. Michael would just reply with calling Gavin an idiot, but they both knew he meant well and was a bit hesitant of showing his love like that. Michael couldn’t help but smile after they said goodnight though. Christ, he truly did fall hard.


	7. Chapter 7

The next few weeks went by too fast for Michael and Gavin. It was hard to keep their relationship a secret, but they managed and they’d try to spend as much time with each other as possible. This usually meant that they would do ‘homework’ together. Michael’s parents had never seen Michael so dedicated to school, although it wasn’t at all the way they knew their son, they decided not to mention it. Afraid he’d stop working so hard. Of course, the minimal amount of homework was being done when the two lovebirds were together. Gavin would usually try to get something done, but with seeing Michael lovingly stare at him out of the corner of his eye, that was neigh impossible. They’d end up struggling and rolling all over the floor, before both giving in to their desire to make out. The pair never argued and never fought. Unless it was over a videogame Gavin sucked at, obviously. One of Michael’s favorite things about Gavin was that he never failed to send him a sweet goodnight text. They always made sure he would fall asleep with a smile on his face and Gavin in his thoughts.

 

* * *

 

The secret seemed to be well kept, however, as Michael had expected, Lindsay became suspicious. He was never one to be happy and cheerful all the time and even Gavin seemed to care more about things now. Sooner rather than later, Lindsay decided to drag Michael off into an empty hallway after school to question him.

“Tell me.” She merely stated.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Michael knew perfectly well what she was aiming for, but decided to try and play dumb anyway.

“Something’s up, I just know it.”

“There’s absolutely nothing worth telling you, Lindsay.” He laughed nervously. Michael hoped she wouldn’t notice.

“We’re going to my house and you are going to spill every dirty little secret." 

Alright, so she did notice. Well fuck. What was he supposed to do now? He and Gavin promised each other to not tell anyone unless they both wanted to. Gavin hadn’t even told Geoff yet and Geoff was like his best friend, Michael not taken into account.

 

* * *

 

Once they arrived at her house, Lindsay hauled Michael upstairs and sat him down on her bed and came to the point without hesitation.

“So, Michael. Confess.” She crossed her arms and stood in front of him. Usually Michael wouldn’t give a shit. Usually. But this was Lindsay and she has been a great friend since as long as he could remember. 

“I can’t.” He answered, trying to evade her glare.

“Why can’t you?” She sounded much softer now.

“Because I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Is it a bad thing? Are you trying to seem happy so people won’t suspect anything? Do your parents hit you? Oh my God, Michael, you don’t have to be strong, you can tell me and it’s okay to cry.” 

Before she had the chance to make any more assumptions, Michael cut her off, “Lindsay, stop it. Nothing bad is going on, I’m fine. Honestly.”

“Then what is it?” She still looked worried and Michael couldn’t bear to lie to her face.

“If you promise not to tell anyone, not even Barb, I’ll tell you.” He sighed at last.

“Of course, your secret is safe with me!” And with that she sat down on a chair and waited for him to talk with a big smile on her face. At least that was the Lindsay Michael knew so well.

“Uhm, well, I’m kind of in a relationship.” He said, averting his eyes.

“I. FUCKING. KNEW IT.” She jumped up from her chair to embrace him in a hug, “Tell me, who is it? Do I know her?”

“Actually, it’s not a her…”

“It’s Gavin.” She stated without skipping a beat.

“How the fuck do you know that?!” Michael pulled himself out of her arms to look at her, “Did he tell you?”

“No, he didn’t. I just suspected as much.” She shrugged.

“Then why did you ask who ‘she’ was?” 

“Because I didn’t want to assume you were gay, even though I thought so. You never told me!”

“Yeah, but to be fair, I never really told myself either.” He said and let himself fall down on the bed again. 

“But it’s true then? That’s so cute. You two are adorable together.” She cooed at him.

“Shut up, Linds.” Michael grunted in reply, hands covering his face.

“Aww, come on, you really are! When’s the wedding? Are you going to adopt any children? Does he have a cute nickname for you?”

“Stop it, Lindsay!” Michael yelled and with a wide grin on his face started to tickle her.

“Who’s bottom in the relationship?” Lindsay all but screamed through fits of laughter and Michael laughed along with her.

 

* * *

 

When Lindsay was finally done asking Michael all kinds of (embarrassing) questions, he made his way back home. It was still early and he wasn’t going to eat anytime soon, so he decided to swing by Gavin’s house. 

When he made his way up the steps, he could hear screams coming from the backyard. And clearly it was Gavin who made the sound.

Worried and ready to smack a bitch Michael ran around the house and jumped over the fence. Well, to be honest he climbed, but in his mind it felt like he cleared it with one jump.

What he saw next was not at all what he had expected. He noticed Gavin first. His Gavin, sitting in a lawn chair with crossed arms and a pout on his face. Then he saw Geoff. How would he even begin to describe how Geoff looked? Anyway, so Geoff was rolling over the ground laughing and clutching his stomach.

“I can’t breathe!” Geoff managed to gasp, but continued to laugh. 

“It’s not funny, Geoffrey! It’s a very serious matter!” Gavin yelled at the tattooed man.

Meanwhile, Michael didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He considered climbing back over the fence and pretending it never happened, but he couldn’t move due to the shock. Geoff looked absolutely ridiculous. However, that was not what caused Michael to reveal himself. Geoff’s laugh is incredibly contagious, so Michael couldn’t help but snort. 

Geoff looked into the direction of the sound and finally noticed Michael standing there.

“Gavvy! Look! It’s your knight in shining armor!” He barely managed to pronounce the last word before bursting into laughter again. 

“Hi Michael.” Gavin said softly and waved a little.

“Hey Gav. Do you think you can explain what the hell is going on here?” Michael asked as he made way to stand next to Gavin.

“I think I can explain!” Geoff giggled.

“Shut up Geoff!” Gavin and Michael yelled at him at the same time, which only caused Geoff to clutch his stomach even tighter.

“You two are killing me!”

“Well, this big idiot found out we’re together and for some reason he thinks it’s hilarious.” Gavin stated.

“What’s so funny about that, Geoff?” Michael asked.

Geoff sat up before answering, “I was being very serious about it, but when I asked Gav about it, he started to blush and his voice became squeaky while he tried to deny it. It was amazing, you should’ve seen it.”

Michael chuckled, imagining what Gavin would’ve looked like.

“Not you too! You guys are the worst!” Gavin complained and crossed his arms again.

“Sorry Gav.” Michael said and pulled Gavin into a hug.

“Look, I’m glad you two finally got together, but I don’t want to see you make out.” Geoff commented from his place in the grass.

“In that case, I strongly advise you to look the other way or go inside.” Michael grinned and pressed his lips to Gavin’s.

“Assholes.” Michael heard Geoff say before he disappeared inside and left them alone in the yard.

 

* * *

 

It was a tiring day for Michael. After their make-out session in the Ramsey’s backyard, he told Gavin that Lindsay found out. Fortunately, Gavin wasn’t mad. Besides, that made them even, because Geoff knew as well. Although Geoff was bound to tell Griffon, which would make the scores uneven once again. They talked about how to go from there and Michael proposed to try to keep it a secret from others still. Gavin agreed and with that being said, Michael made his way home.

It was still a bit early when he face-planted into his pillow that night, but he was exhausted from the day’s events and decided to go to sleep anyway.

 

* * *

 

The following morning Michael woke up feeling well rested. He stretched a bit before grabbing his phone to read Twitter and check his messages. Something didn’t feel right, but it took him a while to put his finger on it. After scrolling through his messages a few times, it dawned on him. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Gavin hadn’t sent him a goodnight text.


	8. Chapter 8

It was probably nothing, Michael told himself, but he couldn’t stop worrying about the silly Brit. Gavin was very clumsy, so it’s not a far-fetched idea to think he found himself in some kind of accident. On the other hand, this is still Gavin. The guy who can be incredibly mysterious and, on top of that, he has disappeared once before already. The only thing that could calm Michael down was the thought of Geoff. Of course, Geoff loved to crack jokes and pull pranks, but he was very protective and would never let anything bad happen to Gavin.

 

* * *

 

Michael was able to drag himself to school despite his worries, cursing gravity as he did so. This odd feeling that something might be wrong with Gavin made him feel thrice as heavy and incredibly slow. He checked his phone again for any messages, but still no sign of Gavin. He called him twice and sent him a bunch of texts, but there was no answer. Michael promised himself to try not to worry and to make it through the day. If he still hadn’t heard from Gavin once school was over, he’d go over to his house to check on him. 

When he finally arrived at his destination, Lindsay was waiting for him.

“Good morning, Michael!” She greeted him cheerfully.

“Hey Linds.” He replied.

“Alright, what’s wrong?”

Michael decided to not even try to hide it from her, “Gavin vanished again.”

“What do you mean by ‘vanished’?”

“I haven’t heard from him since yesterday evening. He doesn’t respond to my texts, he doesn’t answer my calls. There’s just silence.” Michael explained.

“Michael, you shouldn’t worry about him. You know he has done this before and he was fine then, so why wouldn’t he be now?”

“It’s just different this time, Lindsay.”

“Why? Because you two are together now?” She whispered the last part, making sure no one would hear.

“Yeah, I guess so. Usually he wou-,” Michael stopped himself from going into further details, “nevermind.” 

“Usually he would what? Come on, tell me Michael.”

“No, it’s stupid.” He retorted.

“Michael, you know you can trust me, pleeeeaaasee.” Lindsay begged.

“Fine,” Michael finally gave in and pulled Lindsay aside so no one would hear him say it, “usually he sends me a goodnight text and last night, he didn’t.”

He was met by silence after that. Michael and Lindsay stared at each other for a while, before Lindsay couldn’t keep it in anymore and started to squeal at the top of her lungs.

“Aaaaaww! That’s so sweet!”

“Shut up, Lindsay!” Michael yelled and started to push her in the direction of their next class.

“Who knew you could be such a loving person!”

“Damn it, Lindsay.” Michael snorted and clasped a hand over her mouth to stop her from making any more embarrassing comments.

Lindsay just laughed while Michael guided them both to the appropriate classroom and shoved her inside.

 

* * *

 

Lindsay tried her absolute best to distract Michael from Gavin. She drew silly pictures she would throw on his desk, told him about her latest endeavors in videogames, she even started to make fun of the teacher and she rarely does that.

Michael appreciated the effort she put into it and he also wanted to stop thinking about Gavin, but he just couldn’t do it. Instead he’d try to take notes, failing horribly and ending up checking his phone for any sign of life instead.

Lindsay felt sorry for him, but it was also goddamn adorable to see Michael like that. She has known Michael for years now and she always saw him as a guy filled to the brim with rage. The Michael she knew would pick fights over nothing, but Gavin brought out his softer side and she liked seeing that. Michael looked much happier now. Not now as in right this instant, but recently. Right now, he looked kind of miserable.

While Michael stared intently at his phone, as if to try and reach Gavin through it mentally, Lindsay decided to call in some support. She texted Kerry, Miles, Chris, Barbara and Ray, but none of them knew where Gavin was.

 

* * *

 

The minutes came and went, slower than ever, and as soon as the bell rang Michael shoved all his stuff into his backpack and ran out of the classroom, Lindsay hot on his tail.

“Michael! Wait up!” She shouted, trying to keep up. 

Michael slowed his pace, allowing Lindsay to catch up to him.

“What?” He asked, eyes on the front doors of the school.

“You can’t just leave like that, where are you going?”

“I’m going over to his house.” Michael said, quickening his step. 

“I thought you said you’d wait ‘till after school?” 

“I did, but I changed my mind. I need to know what’s going on!” He yelled the last part, running out of the school and leaving Lindsay behind. 

 

* * *

 

Even though it was still pretty early, the Texas sun was hot and his sweaty shirt stuck to his body. He hadn’t even made it to the next block yet, damn it. Michael used to think he was fast, but now he cursed his legs for not being able to carry him from A to B any faster. His mind, however, was working overtime. It came up with the most awful explanations for Gavin’s absence. Worst part, they became increasingly terrifying, but all sounded very possible to his panic stricken brain. The more rational causes for the lack of British accent this morning were severely underrepresented. Didn’t he just oversleep? That was a very logical explanation. Thing is, Gavin never overslept. He was always up so early. Perhaps he was just feeling ill again? But he promised Michael to tell when he was feeling under the weather and he wouldn’t break his promise like that. 

Michael just hoped Gavin would be there to open the door for him. He’d probably start squealing and laughing at Michael for overreacting, which would be the best possible outcome at this point. 

Michael only just realized, he had promised himself he would make it through his classes and he gave in after the first fucking period. Jesus Christ, when did he become this soft? 

Barely making sure the road was clear, Michael crossed the street to Gavin’s house. His heart was pounding insanely hard and fast when he made his way up the steps and rang the doorbell. No one answered. Trying his best to catch his breath, he rang it again, but the house remained quiet.

Michael decided to be a bit rude and made his way around the house, just like he had done yesterday. He peered over the fence, but the backyard was empty. He wondered if he’d also dare to take it to the next step and be incredibly rude and climb over the fence to be able to check the living room, but decided against it. Instead, he went back to the front door and sat down the steps, giving his body the time and chance to calm down.


	9. Chapter 9

While he sat there, on the steps in the Texas sun, Michael’s mind started to wander towards Gavin. Every memory brought a smile to his face; they always had so much fun together.

Like that one time they kind of got lost in each other’s eyes and completely forgot the time, which caused them to be late to class. Fortunately, Gavin came up with the best excuse in the history of great excuses on the spot and talked them out of detention. He had said that they’d found a little girl who got lost on their way to school and they had to bring her there.

Or the time they were playing Halo together and Michael got really frustrated with their other teammates; some random guys from New York. Gavin thought his rage was extremely funny and started to laugh and squeal, leaving Michael grinning to himself silently in his bedroom.

Gavin was ridiculously clumsy too. Michael prevented him from falling down the stairs on multiple occasions and would proceed to carry him upstairs instead. Not very impressive though, Gavin’s light as a feather. 

 

* * *

 

A few cars passed by while Michael just sat there, enjoying the sounds of the birds in the trees and children laughing and yelling somewhere down the street. It was a pretty nice day, a bit too hot for his liking, but nice nonetheless.

When Michael began fantasizing about making out with Gavin, he wondered if he had sunstroke. Or maybe he just really missed Gavin. Or perhaps he was just incredibly worried and he absent-mindedly tried to take his mind off of it. Probably a bit of all three at the same time, he decided in the end.

 

* * *

 

He was thinking about every little detail about Gavin he could imagine, focusing on the ones he liked the most. His favorite had to be how Gavin pronounced his name. It sounded especially cute when Gavin was sleepy, his British accent relatively thick. The way Gavin would comb his red curls with his fingers came in closed second though. Or did he prefer the high-pitched squeals when Gavin laughed or screamed? Then again, he also liked the ridiculously stupid questions Gavin asked, while they actually made sense if you thought them over long enough. And Gav’s sass, don’t forget that. Gavin is a sarcastic little shit, Michael thought to himself and a smile formed on his face. He had bitched out teachers before and won arguments he had with them, never ceasing to amaze and entertain Michael.

Did Gavin even have negative sides? He probably did, but Michael grew accustomed to them, started to love them even. Gavin had walked away from him mid-conversation more than once and Michael believed it was quirky and kind of sweet. Gavin didn’t even think it strange and that was what made it sweet. And the never-ending stream of riddles, also adorable. Adorable and incredibly frustrating at times. Fortunately, Michael became very adept at deciphering them, so he had no problem with them anymore. Except for one, he never managed to figure out what Gavin meant with “It’s honest and real”.

 

* * *

 

The sound of his phone pulled Michael back into reality. Apparently, his friends were getting worried about him. Of course Lindsay knew what was going on, so she just asked if he was doing okay and if he had figured anything out yet. However, she hadn’t told their other friends, because there were five texts from Barbara, each one more hysterical than the last, and one from Ray that simply read “Dude, where are you? I’m bored, come entertain me so I don’t fall asleep again.”

Michael nearly put his phone away without answering, but Barbara sounded really worried. Besides, he hated that Gavin didn’t respond, so he shouldn’t treat Barb the same way. He merely stated he’s skipping school because of Gavin and that Gavin’s not home. He sent that last part to Lindsay as well. The text he sent to Ray was a bit more elaborate, Ray was never one for drama anyway. “I’m in front of Gavin’s house, he’s not home though. Drink some coffee or Red Bull to stay awake you asshole.” Michael typed before he hit the ‘send’ button. Michael liked how Ray was always so relaxed, it allowed him to relax some more as well.

Out of boredom he started to play a game on his phone: Angry Birds. After firing ten birds into their feathery deaths the sound of a car got his attention. The sound came closer and after a few seconds he could see it coming around the corner. He tried to identify the driver, but the car was too far away. Michael stood up to get a better view and was surprised to see Griffin behind the steering wheel. He picked up his backpack and walked down the steps while Griffin pulled into the driveway.

Apparently she had noticed him standing in front of their door before she stepped out of the car, because she didn’t look particularly surprised.

“Hey there Michael.” She greeted him.

“Hi Griffin, uhm, do you know where Gavin is?” Michael asked, staring at his feet. He felt kind of embarrassed, standing in front of their empty house like some kind of stalker.

“I do.” And she gave him a sad smile when she said that. Michael didn’t like that smile. 

“Is something wrong?”

“Let’s sit down in the kitchen and then I’ll explain.” She opened the front door and gestured for Michael to go inside.

He did and dropped his backpack in the hallway before sitting down at the dining table in the kitchen.

“Do you want anything?” Griffin asked, getting herself some water.

“No, thanks.” He just wanted to know what was going on.

After what seemed like an hour Griffin sat down as well, opposite Michael.

“Alright then. Michael, what I’m about to say may come as a surprise, but try to stay calm, okay?”

What the actual fuck. Something serious was going on. Michael’s mind jumped to conclusions, all of them quite frightening and nerve wrecking. Did a car hit Gavin? Was he dead? Did they send him back to England? And so on. Michael eventually took control of his thoughts again and merely nodded in Griffin’s general direction, not looking her in the eye. 

“Gavin is in the hospital right now.” Her voice close to a whisper. 

Michael was right. He was fucking right. His British asshole was probably dying in a hospital bed while he was just sitting here doing nothing. 

“What happened to him?” Michael dared to ask.

“Well, actually, it happened years ago. Gavin has a very serious heart condition.”

What? Gavin has been sick for years and he never mentioned it to Michael. Not even once. Didn’t Gavin trust him, or wasn’t he worth telling? He should’ve been told goddamn it. Gavin kept a huge secret from him while they promised to be open and truthful to one another.

“Why didn’t he tell me?” Michael whispered, more to himself than to Griffin.

She heard it though, “Michael, that has nothing to do with you. He isn’t comfortable with telling anyone. Only Geoff and I know. And now you too, of course." 

Alright, that made him feel slightly better, but still. This is big and pretty fucking important and Gavin didn’t even tell him.

They sat in silence for while, Michael keeping his eyes on the floor, Griffin sipping her water every now and then and not looking at anything in particular. 

“Would you like to see him?” Griffin asked after a while. 

Michael simply nodded and followed her out of the house.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so my computer changed every “Griffon” I wrote into “Griffin” in the last chapter, but I made sure everything was right this time. Too lazy to change the last chapter though. Also, I’m back on track. Was busy deciding where to take this, but I stuck with my initial plan in the end.

During the car ride, Michael had no idea what to do. Griffon tried to start a conversation, but Michael merely nodded while she talked. He didn’t want to be rude, but he also really didn’t want to talk right now. 

Instead, he looked out of the window and tried to brace himself for what was about to come. Problem was, he didn’t know what to expect. What if he wasn’t able to recognize his Gavin? Maybe he looked incredibly sick and not like himself at all. Michael tried to think of every single scenario, but he still wasn’t ready when they reached the parking lot of the hospital.

He had managed to collect his thoughts, but not his feelings. He didn’t know how he felt. He was a bit mad and disappointed because Gavin hadn’t told him, but also sad. And, above all, scared.

 

* * *

 

He stepped out of the car as soon as Griffon turned the car off, pulling his backpack out with him. He waited for Griffon to get out of the car, not only to follow her, but also because he didn’t want to step inside the hospital first.

Griffon offered him a smile, which he tried to return the best he could, and led the way. When he approached the front door, Michael started to wonder if it would feel the same way it did all those years ago. The last time he had visited a hospital was when his grandfather fell ill. He hated every minute he spent inside. Everything was so… Down. Even the air felt sad to him and weighed him down while he’d walk through the hallways. The worst part was that it smelled of sick people. Well, everything smelled sterile and that reminded him of illnesses and thus of sick people.

Michael took a deep breath before going inside and, much to his disappointment, it still felt awful. He slowed down as Griffon went to the front desk. After a few seconds she waved him over and they walked towards the elevator, apparently, Gavin was somewhere on the second floor. 

His increasing heart rate annoyed Michael to no end, but it only got worse the closer he got to Gavin. The smiling nurses didn’t help. Of course, it was nice and sweet that they smiled, but it seemed so out of place to Michael.

 

* * *

 

When Griffon finally stopped in front of one of the many white doors, Michael stopped too. He didn’t know if he could do this. He wanted to see Gavin, but he was scared of how his boyfriend would look and the probability that Gav might look terrible made him not want to go inside.

Griffon noticed it, “It’s okay Michael. It’s still Gavin, I promise.”

Michael just stared at his feet and didn’t say anything.

“He doesn’t look sick. He isn’t pale or anything and his hair still looks like something exploded in his face.” She laughed at her own joke. 

And, to his surprise, he grinned with her. Griffon gave him that little push he needed, so he nodded to her while he walked towards the door. One last time he tried to swallow the lump in his throat and then he entered the room.

 

* * *

 

“Michael…?” Gavin immediately spoke when he noticed his boyfriend.

“Hey Gavvy.” Michael answered with a smile less bright than usual.

“I think I’ll leave you two alone for a while.” Griffon said and she waved at them before closing the door behind her.

The silence that followed was deafening. They both had so much to say, but no clue where to begin. Gavin played with the hem of his shirt, while Michael scratched the back of his head and took everything in, with the exception of Gavin and the hospital bed he was currently in. Finally, it was Michael who broke the silence. Not by talking though, but by walking towards Gavin. When he was right beside the bed, he dropped his bag and sat down on the edge. Gavin’s hands were still messing with his shirt when Michael grabbed them, causing Gavin to look at him.

Michael looked him over before speaking, “If you keep scaring me like that, you will be the death of me.”

He shook his head and smiled when he noticed Gavin’s silly grin.

 “Seriously though, don’t ever do that to me again.” Michael continued with a stern face.

 “I’m sorry, my little Michael,” Goddamn, he only just realized how badly he wanted to hear Gavin say his name with that stupid accent, “I just didn’t want you to worry all the time. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“Gavin, don’t hold back because you think I’ll be concerned, alright? I’m always worried about you. I love you and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“Aaaww, Michael, you said you loved me.” Gavin cooed.

 “That’s because I do asshole!” Michael yelled back.

 “I love you too.” Gavin said. And before Michael could respond, he was being pulled forward into a kiss.

“Gavin, in all seriousness, I’d feel bad if you’d keep things from me.”

“I said I’m sorry!” Gavin pouted.

“Promise me you won’t do that again.”

“I promise.” 

“Do you pinky-promise?” Michael teased. 

“No, but I’d be willing to kissy-promise?” Gavin said and tried to pull Michael towards him again.

“You’re a piece of shit.” Michael laughed before giving in.

 

* * *

 

After giving each other a tonne of cheesy and shitty compliments and kissing every other sentence, Michael became serious again.

“Tell me honestly, how are you feeling Gavvy?”

“I’m fine now, my heart just decided to be bloody irritating again.”

“What the fuck does that even mean?” Michael questioned.

 “If you want me to throw medical terms at you, you’re out of luck, because I’m not only sick thanks to my heart, I’m also sick of being sick. You can talk to my doctor, Geoff or Griffon if you want to know the details.” Gavin said with the indifferent tone Michael knew oh so well. Usually that tone meant he didn’t want to pursue the subject or was annoyed, so Michael decided to drop it for now.

 “On to more important things though Michael, I don’t think you’re getting any Christmas presents this year.” Gavin grinned.

“What? Am I not nice to you?”

“You’re nice to me, but if I’m not mistaken, you’re skipping school as we speak.”

Michael started to blush, “Yeah, but it was an emergency!”

“You’re such a sweetheart.” Gavin giggled.

“Well, you didn’t respond to my texts or calls and I kind of panicked! I couldn’t concentrate anyway, I needed to know what happened.” Michael rambled. 

“Life happened, Michael.” Gavin said melancholically.


	11. Chapter 11

“What do you mean by that?” Michael asked confused.

“I wish I could tell you, but I can’t.” Gavin smiled sadly when he said that.

“What? Why not? You know you can tell me everything, right?”

“I’m completely aware of that.”

“So why can’t you tell me?!” Michael all but yelled.

“Because I don’t want to!” And that was probably the first time Michael had ever heard Gavin raise his voice.

Michael wondered if he should let it slide, but he couldn’t. So after a short pause he continued, “Why not?!”

“Because telling you lead to just two outcomes and I don’t like either of them!” Gavin stared intently at his boyfriend before crossing his arms and looking the other way.

“Can you at least tell me those outcomes then?” Michael said, his voice almost a whisper now.

“If I do, will you let it go?”

“Of course, Gav.” And he smiled, but Gavin didn’t smile back.

“Option one, the best of the two evils, I tell you and you understand and won’t make a big deal out of it and it’ll just fuck me up more than it already has. Option two, I tell you and I force you to carry that weight with you and let my thoughts burden you and me both.” He explained gravely. 

“How can talking about it make it worse for you? You already know.”

“I thought you said you’d let it go.” Gavin retorted.

“Last question, I promise.”

“Talking about it will put it out in the world and as soon as I do that, it’ll become even more real to me. I don’t feel comfortable speaking of it, because I think that will give it more influence than it already has and that it will get stuck in my brain.” 

“How can it get even more stuck in your brain?” Michael asked, curiosity taking over.

“Speaking of it will lead to some kind of form of deep processing, which will ma-“

“I don’t need a psychology lesson, Gav!” Michael laughed, happy to recognize some of the Gavin he fell in love with.

“That’s your own fault! I’ve explained it before, you should pay more attention during my freemium lectures,” Gavin spoke, a grin spreading across his face, “also, it’s not just psychology, this is cognitive psychology.”

“You’re an asshole Gavin.” Michael said and gave Gavin a quick peck on the lips. “Wait a second, did you just say freemium?”

“Most certainly did.”

“Do you mean I can pay to get even more lectures about this brain shit?”

Gavin nodded. 

“Why the hell would I do that?”

“You already paid. With kisses.” Gavin giggled.

“Prick.” Michael muttered before pulling Gavin in for a kiss.

 

* * *

 

They continued to talk about school and their friends, Michael trying his best to suppress his curiosity and steering clear of the whole hospital/illness-topic. Michael had told Gavin that Lindsay knew something was going on with him, so Gavin said that Lindsay he trusted Lindsay enough to share this secret with him. Michael told him he’d keep the others in the dark and that he’d try to prevent Lindsay from running to the hospital as soon as she’d hear the news.

Unfortunately for them, visiting hours soon came to an end and Griffon came to get Michael and say goodbye to Gavin before long.

“Hang in there, Gav. Geoff, Michael and I will be back tomorrow.” And with that she kissed Gavin on his forehead. 

Michael started to walk towards the door already, but stopped when Gavin said his name.

“Are you leaving without saying goodbye Michael?” He fake-pouted.

“Later, Gav." 

“You know that’s not good enough Michael, that’s not a proper goodbye. And don’t be embarrassed in front of Griffon, she won’t think anything of it.” Gavin said and wave his boyfriend over.

Michael walked towards the bed again and quickly kissed Gavin on the lips. When he stood up again, his cheeks were a little flushed, causing both Gavin and Griffon to giggle.

 

* * *

 

“Did he look sick?” Griffon asked Michael in the car.

“Not really. Thanks for taking me.” Michael said with a tiny voice.

He truly was grateful though. If not for Griffon, he would still be ridiculously worried. Of course he was still worried about Gavin, but in a different way. In a way that’s strangely less terrifying, but also more upsetting.

“So you will be visiting with me and Geoff tomorrow as well?”

“If you don’t mind. I’d really like that.”

“I don’t mind at all, Michael!” Griffon smiled, eyes on the road.

They talked some more on the way home, mostly about what kind of present they could get Gavin. At first they thought about giving him a videogame, but they didn’t know how long he would be in the hospital, so that wouldn’t be any fun for him anytime soon. In the end they decided they’d make a fruit basket together. Or, more specifically, something that would look like a fruit basket, but was filled with cookies, chocolate and candy. Griffon would buy Gavin’s favorite snacks and some fruit tomorrow and then wait for Michael to finish school to make the surprise.

 

* * *

 

When they arrived at the Ramsey household, Griffon asked Michael if he wanted to come inside and talk about the surprise some more. Michael gladly accepted, not wanting to go home already and having to face his mother’s wrath and receiving a lecture on why he shouldn’t skip school in the process.

“Is that my lovely wife I hear?” Michael could hear Geoff yell from the kitchen as soon as Griffon opened the door.

“We’re home!” Griffon yelled back.

“Who’s we? Is Gav back?” Geoff yelled and immediately ran to the door.

Michael saw the disappointment in his eyes when he noticed Gavin wasn’t there. Michael wanted to make a joke about feeling offended, but he couldn’t blame Geoff, because he would’ve felt the same way. Instead he just waved, a sad smile on his face.

“I’m sorry Michael,” Geoff said when he noticed Michael’s gloom, “I didn’t mean it like that, come in.”

Geoff held out his hand for Michael to shake, while Griffon made her way upstairs. Michael shook Geoff’s hand and then followed the tattooed man to the kitchen.

“So now you know too, huh?” Geoff said as he opened the fridge. 

“Yup.”

“Were you shocked?”

“Yes. I mean, he didn’t look sick, but the news was kind of scary.”

Geoff nodded as he put a glass of water in front of Michael, who thanked him and immediately took a sip.

“Wait a second,” Geoff suddenly said, “does that mean you skipped school today?” 

“Yeah…” Michael answered honestly.

“Are your parents going to be mad?” Michael noticed the slight concern in Geoff’s voice.

“My mom’s probably going to yell at me and stuff. I might take a huge detour on my way home.” Michael laughed nervously. 

“Well, if you want to you can stay for dinner?” Geoff offered. 

“If it’s not too much trouble…”


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: In which I am both Michael and Gavin in certain ways.

Michael ended up spending almost his entire evening with the Ramseys. Geoff made an absolutely delicious dinner and Michael didn’t even have to tell him, because he knew it perfectly well. The remainder of the evening wasn’t as successful and enjoyable. When Michael got home, his parents began to yell at him immediately, telling me was worthless and ungrateful for skipping an entire day of school. Especially because not everyone gets the chances he gets. He almost told them about Gavin and how he was so hopelessly in love with the guy that he couldn’t take it anymore and had to know what was going on. But when he saw his brothers sitting on the stairs, laughing at him for receiving punishment, he immediately decided against it. Michael just stood there, barely listening, and escaped as soon as he could.

So yes, his day ended the way it started: absolutely terrible. At least the middle part was worth it and he couldn’t wait to visit Gavin the next day. Especially because Michael and Griffon went a little overboard with Gavin’s surprise and added something very unique to it. Michael didn’t feel like going to school the next day, but that would only result in more yelling and disappointment, so he’d do his best to drag himself to class.

 

* * *

 

School wasn’t too interesting today, as per usual. Michael tried his best to brush everyone off when they asked how Gavin was doing and he told them that their British friend had a bad case of food poisoning. Fortunately, Lindsay did know what was going on and backed Michael up whenever she could. She also asked if Michael wanted to come home with her to hang out and eat some cake, but Michael said he was going to visit Gavin. Ray asked if he wanted to hang out as well, but Michael declined again. Luckily, Ray didn’t seem too upset about it. Although Michael kind of did, he hadn’t spent time with his best friend in a while. He would have to change that soon.

Perhaps he was clinging to Gavin a little too much. Or maybe that was just normal at this point, they’d only just began to date and his love for his boyfriend was a little overwhelming still. Even though this feeling of love was cancelling out pretty much every other feeling and emotion, Michael didn’t want it to decrease to a more manageable level. He really needed Gavin and he was completely fine with it. Or was he scared that a decrease would lead to disappearance in the end?

 

* * *

 

After his last class, Michael shoved all his stuff into his backpack and was the first student to leave the room. Griffon had texted him to ask if she should pick him up, but Michael had declined. She and Geoff had done so much for him already, he couldn’t possible ask for more. Besides, he liked walking and the Ramsey residence wasn’t too far away.

Upon arrival Michael didn’t get the chance to ring the doorbell, because Griffon burst out of the door before he could even raise his arm.

“Hi Griffon.” Michael waved. 

“Hey Michael, come on in!” She was practically singing right now.

Michael smiled at her before following her inside. They came to a stop in the kitchen and Michael couldn’t help but notice the giant basket that sat on the table. It was a giant woven basket with a green bow on the handle, a few bags of chips (or as Gavin would say, crisps) were inside already, but all the other candy was piled up next to it. So yeah, the basket was pretty big, but the mountain of candy Griffon bought was almost bigger and Michael wasn’t sure if it would all fit.

“Griffon, are you sure you didn’t go a little overboard with the candy?”

“Uhm, maybe, but we can just eat everything that doesn’t fit in the basket on the road.” And she winked at Michael, causing him to smile again.

“Shall I start with putting as much candy in it as I can?” Michael asked while he sat down at the kitchen table.

“Sure, in the meantime I’ll wash all the fruits, so that Gav can’t use the excuse ‘I didn’t feel like washing them’ for not eating them.” She answered, rolling her eyes a little. 

Michael tried his best to fit as much candy in the basket as he could. In the end, he had covered the entire bottom and created a little mountain on top of that. Griffon then placed all the fruits on the table and they started to cover the cookies, the chocolate and the other candy. They put bananas (or ‘nanners’) on the bottom and covered the rest of the mountain with smaller fruit, like strawberries and grapes. Michael knew Gavin hated kumquats, so he had asked Griffon to get some of those as well. She got a bunch of ‘em and they placed them on the pile, as visible as possible.

“I wonder if Gavin can hide his disappointment when he sees this.” Griffon said.

“I doubt it. He’ll probably try, but I don’t think it’ll be very convincing.” Michael replied.

“Oh, Michael, before I forget,” Griffon said and got something out of her bag, “here.” 

Michael took the little box, already knowing what was inside. In their free time, Michael and Gavin really enjoyed playing Minecraft together, so Michael wanted to give Gavin something to remind him of fun times and also of his boyfriend, of course. Michael had asked Griffon to get two plain, silver necklaces and two pendants while she was out shopping. One pendant was a creeper head and the other a diamond. Michael would give Gavin the one with the creeper and keep the diamond for himself.

“Shall we go then?” Griffon asked when she had finished wrapping the basket transparent foil.

“Let’s go.” Michael answered, picking up the basket and walking towards the door.

 

* * *

 

Sure enough, not every cookie could fit into the basket, so Michael and Griffon decided to rank the candy and find out which one they liked the most. They soon figured out Griffon was more of a candy-loving person, especially the sour ones, and that Michael preferred the cookies.

Time flies when you’re having fun, so before long they arrived at the hospital and walked inside. Griffon carried the basket and Michael was leading the way. They went straight to Gavin’s room and didn’t even bother to knock.

“Hey Gavin!” They yelled in unison as soon as they set foot inside the room.

“Jesus Christ, you scared me. Hello!” Gavin quickly recovered from the scare and sat up in his (disturbingly white) hospital bed, “is that all for me?”

“Of course it is!” Griffon said and she placed the basket on Gav’s bed.

“We got you a traditional fruit basket!” Michael added happily.

“Wow, uhm, thanks!” Gavin said, but he didn’t quite manage to sound completely genuine.

“You don’t like it.” Griffon said dramatically.

“No, I do, it’s great!” Gavin blurted out.

“We got you kumquats and everything!” Michael grinned.

“Thanks?”

“We’re just messing with you, Gav. Look underneath all the fruit.” Griffon finally confessed.

Gavin pushed some of the fruit aside and immediately recognized his favorite cookies and candy and now, he looked legitimately happy. 

“Good Lord, that’s a lot of delicious snacks! Thank you so much!” Gavin yelled out, pulling Griffon into a tight hug. 

“If you don’t mind, I’ll go see if I can find your doctor anywhere. I’ll be back soon though!” Griffon said and walked out of the door, winking at Michael before she disappeared out of sight. 

Michael finally approached the bed and sat down on the edge. Gavin took a hold of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss, which Michael gladly accepted. When the distance between them increased again, Michael took the little box out of his pocket.

“Is that for me too?”

“Sure is.” Michael said and gave Gavin the little box.

Gavin eagerly ripped off the wrapping paper and halted a second before opening the box as well. Michael couldn’t help but smile as Gavin’s mouth fell open.

“Shall I put it on you?” Michael offered.

And Gavin just nodded his head, unable to speak.

“Aawww, Michael, you shouldn’t have!” Gavin squealed when Michael put the necklace on him and he found his voice at last.

“I kind of had to, Gavvers.” Michael snickered, enjoying how happy Gavin looked.

“Why is that?” Gavin asked, admiring the creeper pendant.

“Because I felt really sad for you and I wanted to cheer you up.” 

“So, next time I want something nice I should get myself back in a hospital bed?” Gavin smirked.

“Don’t ever do that to me. I swear to God, Gavin, you’ll be the fucking death of me.” Michael said and ‘carefully’ smacked a pillow in Gavin’s face.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Haven't forgotten about this fic (also, just a short chapter, because the next one will be the last and I needed to work up to it).

Fortunately, Gavin made a quick recovery. Well, he spent several days in the hospital, but he was back home again relatively soon. His heart condition hadn’t changed at all. Which is both good and bad, because that means he wasn’t getting better, but also not worse. Gavin’s doctors had decided to change his medication, because his current meds weren’t strong enough. The new ones should help with the dizziness and the fainting, although they did make Gavin much slower and vague. 

Michael noticed the change in Gavin’s behavior a few days after he got discharged from the hospital. Gavin wasn’t quick with his jokes anymore and it took him ages to understand the ones Michael made. This, an sich, wasn’t much of a problem, but Gavin lost his ‘touch’. He wasn’t as mysterious anymore and stopped talking in riddles. Although he was still very philosophical and poetic at times, Michael felt like the meds held Gavin back. 

Michael never mentioned it to Gavin though. Michael saw how much better his boyfriend felt and that he was much happier with himself than before and that was enough for Michael.

Gavin still had his edge when it came to outsmarting teachers and the whole history class was relieved that Gavin was finally around again to annoy Mr. Simpson. Gavin got bored easily to begin with, but he felt like he nearly died of boredom in the hospital. He was so bored that he read almost the entire history textbook, so he was ready answer all of the teacher’s questions. And he did. Michael and Ray tried not to laugh out loud, just like the other students, while Gavin recited the chapters in the book that concerned the Civil War.

Their friends were glad Gavin was back and that Michael wasn’t either distracted or absent all the time. They started to hang out more and more together and played a lot of video games. Their favorite one was Minecraft, if only because Gavin’s behavior in that particular game would make Michael mad and Gavin insanely happy. They spent the most time playing video games with Ray. They loved to play Halo together at Gavin's house. At first Ray felt uncomfortable around the two lovebirds, but he soon started to make jokes about 'third-wheeling' whenever he got the chance.  
 

* * *

  
Michael and Gavin were happy like this. They never argued. Well, almost. Ever since Michael had found out about Gavin’s illness, he became more and more protective and worried. Michael asked how Gavin was doing at least 20 times a day. Gavin asked him to stop doing that, but when Michael didn’t, Gavin just accepted it. He could understand that Michael was worried. Actually, it would be weirder if he’d be perfectly calm all the time.

They had some great months together like this and they both wished that it could stay like this forever.

It didn’t.

A few months after Gavin got out of the hospital, Michael received a call he never wanted to receive. He had feared it for weeks, as if he knew it would happen one day. Doesn’t mean he was prepared when it did.  
  


* * *

  
That particular Sunday Gavin and Michael were supposed to meet in the park. Michael was early and sat on the swings. Michael watched the children play tag and saw how several dogs chased one frisbee with a smile on his face.

Minutes came and went, but Gavin probably lost himself in a good book, as he’d done in the past. One time Gavin ran into Michael on the Ramsey’s driveway, because he was half an hour late and Michael had come to see if something was wrong.

Michael waited and waited in the sun, trying not to check the time every other second. After 35 minutes, he really started to worry. Usually Gavin would let him know if he was on his way, but maybe he just forgot. Or perhaps something happened to him. No, Michael thought, he was just late, that didn’t have to mean that he was dead in a ditch somewhere. Did it?

Michael felt a wave of relief wash over him when his phone started to ring. That relief was short lived though, because he soon noticed it was not Gavin calling him, but Geoff.

“Geoff?” Michael said as soon as he answered the call.

“Hey, Mich-“

“Is Gavin okay?” Michael interrupted.

“No, no he isn’t.” Geoff sighed through the phone.

“What is it? Is it his heart?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“What’s going on? Where is he?” Michael asked defeated.

“He just collapsed when he was walking down the stairs. He his head on a few steps, but that’s not the real problem. We’re afraid he suffered a heart attack, but we haven’t heard back from the doctors yet. Griffon and I are in the waiting room of the hospital right now.” Geoff explained.

“I-, I’m on my way.” And with that Michael ended the call.

He’d have to borrow a car. He’s got his driver’s license, but he lacks a car. Perhaps his mother would understand if he told her a friend of his was in the hospital? Probably not, but he’d talk her into it.

Michael found his way to the park’s exit and started to run home. His house wasn’t too far away, but right now every step was one too many for Michael. What if Gavin wouldn’t make it? If that’s the case, he wouldn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to him and tell him one last time how much he loves him.

Michael ran as fast as he could, cutting corners and shoving people aside left and right. He could see his street and when he rounded the corner he saw his mom’s car still in the driveway, thank God.

But then, Michael made a mistake. Quite possibly the biggest mistake of his life. He crossed the street without looking.


	14. Chapter 14

Michael didn’t know what had happened to him. He heard a car and then the next thing he sees is the blue summer sky above him. He also felt really cold and stiff all of a sudden. People started yelling and some started to talk to him. He knew, because he could see their faces appear above him, but he didn’t understand them. They sounded very muffled and far away, as if they were underwater. He continued to stare at them for a minute, but then all the faces surrounding him blended together and his vision went black.  
  


* * *

   
“Geoff, you called him, didn’t you?” Gavin asked as soon as Geoff’s face appeared in the doorway.

“I did, Gav. And I asked the reception if they’d seen anyone who looked like Michael, but he just isn’t here yet.” Geoff explained. 

“He said he was coming, right?” Gavin continued.

“Yes, Gav. Calm down.” Geoff said and went to stand next to Griffon.

“Gavin, you’re here because you’re sick and you need rest. He’ll be here soon enough.” Griffon comforted while she stroke Gavin’s messy hair.

“I want to see him.”

“Gav, you just had a goddamn heart attack, you’re not going anywhere.” Geoff stated, immediately going into overprotective-father mode.

“I feel fine.” Gavin objected. 

“Because you’re hooked up to a bunch of machines and IV’s and have experts to look after you now.”

“Geoff, you should try to relax too.” Griffon intervened.

“He could’ve died, Griffon!” 

“I know, but he’s okay and safe now. Don’t make this harder than it is. Why don’t you go get some coffee for us?”

“Alright.” Geoff said and left the room again.  
 

* * *

  
Geoff decided to take a detour while on his coffee run. Today’s events were really getting to him. He wasn’t just worried about Gavin, but also about Michael. He should’ve been here a while ago. Well, he could’ve, of course he didn’t know if Michael ran into problems on his way here.

Geoff decided to go outside for a bit to calm down in the sun. He tried not to think and worry too much and went back inside when his hands felt less shaky. He slowly made his way to the hospital’s cafeteria, when he saw something very familiar out of the corner of his eye. He turned around to get a better look and soon noticed he was right.

Three paramedics pushed a stretcher through the hallways, on it a boy with red, curly hair.

“Fuck…” Geoff muttered under his breath and ran after the paramedics.

Geoff desperately wanted to prove himself wrong, but when he reached the stretcher he saw that it was Michael.

“Michael?” Geoff said, defeated.

“Sir, do you know this boy?” One of the paramedics asked.

“Yes, yes I do.” Geoff answered, not taking his eyes off Michael.

“Are you his father?” Another paramedic continued.

“No, but he’s part of the family anyway. What happened to him?” Geoff asked, finally looking at the first paramedic.

“He got hit by a car. Bystanders called 911 and told us that he crossed the street without looking.”

“How is he?”

“We’re not sure. He was unconscious when we arrived and has been unresponsive since. We suspect that his wrist is broken and we’re afraid that he severely bruised some ribs as well. We think that he has a concussion too, because he was knocked out and his head’s wounded.” The paramedic calmly explained.

“Can I stay with him?”

“I’m sorry, but no. You can take place in the waiting room and I’ll tell the nurses that you’re with him. They’ll keep you informed.”

“Okay, thank you.” Geoff said as Michael disappeared into a room, doctors and nurses rushing in after him.  
  


* * *

  
Geoff watched the minutes passing by slowly on the clock in the waiting room. He’d quickly explained to Griffon what happened, but they decided to keep Gavin in the dark. If he knew Michael got hurt and was here right now, he’d do anything to see him and they needed him to get his rest. Griffon told Gavin that Geoff was discussing treatments and medication with Gavin’s doctors instead. 

After what felt like hours a nurse came up to Geoff and told him he was allowed to go in and see Michael now. After she explained how he was doing, Geoff stood up and went inside. No one was there, except for Michael of course. Geoff approached the bed and sat down on the edge. Michael was asleep. Or at least he looked like he was asleep. His head was wrapped in bandages and only a few of his curls were visible. His hair was disturbingly colorful when compared to his overly pale skin and the white of the hospital bed. Geoff noticed the paramedic was right about Michael’s wrist being broken, because his lower arm was in a cast. Apart from all that, he looked quite peaceful and at least his face didn’t show any pain.

“Oh, Michael…” Geoff whispered.

“Hey, Geoff.” Michael whispered back, surprising Geoff.

“Michael?! I thought you were asleep!”

“I was. I think.” Michael said, opening his eyes.

“How do you feel?”

“Like shit. Although those painkillers they gave me are pretty great. I want to take some of those home.”

Geoff laughed. Not only because of what Michael just said, but also because he was already joking around, which probably meant that he’d be fine and make a quick recovery. Geoff was about to say something when he noticed that Michael had closed his eyes and had fallen asleep again.

Geoff got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could. He walked through the empty hallways and made his way to Gavin’s room.  
  


* * *

  
“That was a suspiciously lengthy conversation, Geoff.” Gavin said when Geoff walked into the room.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that you and Griffon are acting weird.”

“No, we’re not.” Griffon retorted. 

“Something happened to Michael, right? Just tell me if it did, don’t lie to me.”

“Alright then,” Geoff sighed, “Michael got hit by a car on his way here.”

“What?” Gavin gasped.

“He’s fine. Relatively. Don’t worry about it.” Geoff added.

“Can you define ‘relatively’ for me?” Gavin pressed.

“He broke his wrist, bruised some ribs and hurt his head.”

“Don’t worry about it, Gav, he’s in good hands. You know that.” Griffon comforted and wiped a tear off Gavin’s cheek.

Geoff and Griffon stayed longer than planned, because they wanted to be sure that Gavin would be okay. After some reassuring words and a few hugs they said goodbye and went home, leaving both Michael and Gavin behind.  
  


* * *

  
Gavin tried his best to get some sleep, honestly, but he couldn’t handle it. He had to see Michael and make sure he was okay. He was probably scared. Gavin knew he hated hospitals and that he never spent much time in them, except for the times he visited Gavin.

So Gavin snuck out of his room. Actually, there wasn’t much sneaking involved, because he had to drag a bunch of machines with him, but it felt like a stealth mission nonetheless. On top of being incredibly obvious, Gavin had another problem. He didn’t know which room Michael was in and he couldn’t ask anyone either. Fortunately, he knew the hospital well enough to know which hallway Michael probably ended up in.

After trying a few different rooms and creepily walking up to strange patients in the middle of the night, Gavin managed to find Michael. It was very dark inside, so Gavin wasn’t sure if he was asleep.

“Gavin?”

Alright, he wasn’t sleeping.

“Michael?”

“Is it really you?”

“Yes, my little Michael.” Gavin chuckled.

“Well, I promised I’d come to the hospital, and I did.” Michael joked.

“I kind of expected to you to walk in, just like last time.” 

“I’m sorry, Gavvy.” Michael’s pout was barely visible in the dark room.

“You’ve got some explaining to do still.” 

“I panicked, crossed a street and got hit by a car.” Michael stated.

“You’re an idiot.” Gavin laughed.

“I was almost right.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I once said that you’re going to be the death of me. I was almost right.” Michael chuckled.

“Michael, you can’t make jokes about that!”

“I’m sorry,” But Michael wasn’t sorry at all, he was laughing, “Aren’t you supposed to be in bed or something?”

“Yes, but I really wanted to see you.” Gavin explained.

“You look cute in your hospital gown dragging your coat hanger around.”

“Very funny, Michael, but now you’ve got your own coat hanger.”

“I know. I don’t understand how you can live with this. The beeping is fucking annoying.” Michael muttered.

“You’ll get used to it.” Gavin assured him while he sat down on the bed.

“I finally made you worry for a change.” Michael smirked.

“Yeah, and it bloody sucks. Don’t ever do that to me again.”

“Sorry. Kiss?”

Gavin leaned in, very carefully, and gave Michael a peck on the lips.

“Come closer.” Michael said.

“I’d love to, but I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Come lay to my right side then, my left is fucked up.”

Gavin walked around the bed, dragging his ‘coat hanger’ with him, and lay down half next to Michael, half on top of him in the small hospital bed.

“Your hair is a mess.” Michael noted. 

“Yes, and you look like crap.” Gavin replied.

“I still love you though.”

Gavin cupped Michael’s cheek and brought his face closer so that he could kiss Michael. Michael in turn managed to lift his ridiculously heavy arm off the bed and searched for Gavin’s hand. When he found Gavin’s hand, he placed his own hand on top of it and gently stroked Gavin’s fingers with his thumb, like he always did.

“I now know why you like that book.” Michael said when their lips parted again.

“Truly? Why?”

“Because it’s honest and real and shows you life is short.”

“Time is eternity’s only mercy, Michael.” Gavin smiled, glad Michael finally understood.

“You and your fucking riddles.” Michael said, shaking his head. 

“Will you live your short life with me?”

“Of course I will.”

“I love you, Michael.” Gavin whispered.

“And I you, Gavvy.” Michael whispered back.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, that's the end of Nicotine. I hope you all liked it and I want to thank everyone who accompanied me on this journey. <3


End file.
